Haydar Asan

Haydar Asan — Biography

Born in Istanbul on 16 April 1906, Haydar Aşan was a Turkish-American track athlete and footballer. As a teenager he took part in local athletics meets and took up amateur boxing, and during the early years of Turkish athletics he set national records in the high jump and pole vault. At the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics he represented Turkey in both the high jump, clearing 1.70 m, and the 4 x 100 meters relay, though he failed to advance past the qualifying rounds in either event.

On the football pitch, he turned professional with Fenerbahçe in 1924 at age 18, moved to Galatasaray a year later, and remained with the club for a decade. In athletics he placed second at the Balkan Athletics Championships in both 1931 and 1932, then took first place in 1933, marking Turkey's first-ever gold medal at the championships.

Aşan relocated to the United States in 1938, pursuing graduate studies at Duke University, where he also played on the school's soccer team, and later became an American citizen. He married an American veteran nurse and had two daughters. He died on 29 February 1996.